Body-supporting undergarment.



H. G. & M. L. ALBERS. BODY SUPPORTING UNDBRGARMENT.

APPLICATION FILED NOV 10, 1910.

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H. G. & M. L. ALBERS.

BODY SUPPORTING UNDERGARMENT.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 10, 1910.

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Inveniore:

CALUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CO-IWASHINGTUN, u. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY G. ALBERS AND MARY L. ALBERS, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

BODY-SUPPORTING UNDERGARMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 31, 1911.

Application filed November 10, 1910. Serial No. 591,550.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HENRY G. ALBERs and MARY L. ALBrns, citizens of the United States, residing at borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvement-s in Body-Supporting Undergarments, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings, forming part thereof.

Our invention relates to body-supporting undergarments or under waists, for womens wear, and an object of our invention is to produce a. garment of this nature which will provide a maximum amount of support while permitting maximum free dom of movement. v

Another object of our invention is to provide for an accurate fit of the garment to figures of different proportions.

A more definite object of our invention is to produce a garment of this kind adapted for various athletic uses, such as gymnasium work and swimming; and also adapted for use as a maternity waist.

In the uses to which our invention is adapted, a corset cannot be worn to good advantage, and something is needed to brace and strengthen the body and yet permit freedom of movement and maintain its form and fit, and these needs, it is the objectof our invention to supply.

Other more particular objects of our invention will appear from the following clescription.

We shall now describe the embodiments of our invention, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and shall thereafter point out our invention in claims.

Figure 1 is a view of the outside of the garment, which is spread out substantially flat. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the inside of the garment. Fig. 3 is a very nearly front View showing the garment upon a figure which is indicated in broken lines. Fig. 4c is a view similar to Fig. 2 of a portion of the lower part of a garment having a slightly modified construction.

Our invention includes an improved stayless garment held in position by shoulder straps combined with thigh straps.

Our invention also includes means for effecting separate independent adjustment at the waist, at the bust and at the hips.

Our invention also includes other advantageous features and several details of construction and combinations of parts, as will hereinafter appear. 7 v

In the embodiment of our invention illustrated at Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, the waist body 1 is made up of a plurality of pieces, shown as eight in number, these pieces being cut to the proper shape and the front pieces being shown as slitted or gored upwardly from the bottom, such shaping and goring giving the proper form to the completed garment. The seams uniting the edges at the gores and the edges of the sev eral pieces are turned to the outside of the garment and are covered at the outside with pipings 2 of braid, leaving the inside surface of the garment perfectly smooth and uniformly continuous throughout, so that the garment may be comfortably worn next to the skin. The waist body 1 is of soft, pliable cloth, the particular nature of which, however, may be varied within a wide range of choice or to better adapt the garment to various uses. For example, in a body-supporting undergarment to wear under a bathing suit, canton flannel has been found a suitable material; for gymnasium wear under the usual athletic suit, the material could be coutil, that being a cloth commonly employed in making corsets. The garment opens down the front only and the opposite edges at the front are provided with fastening means shown as hooks 3 and eyes 4:. y

The garment is entirely without steels, bones or stays of any kind and is held in proper position on the body of the wearer by shoulder straps 5 and thigh straps 6, the latter extending from the hip portions of the garment angularly downwardly and inwardly around the thighs. The garment is out rather high in the back, as appears in Fig. 3, to assure that the shoulder straps 5 shall not at any time slip from the shoulders, but will have rather a tendency to draw inward toward the neck. The thigh straps 6, by reason of their angular arrangement in reference to the hips and the cutting out of the garment at the rear and front, particularly the latter, will draw against the inner sides of the thi hs with their flat sides in contact therewith zFig. 3) and will create no inconvenience or discomfort, while at the same time the stress is brought to bear in the way best calculated to prevent the garment from working up. The shoulder straps 5 and the thigh straps 6 are shown as consisting of joined fiat extensions from the front portion and from the rear portion of the waist body 1.

To better accommodate the movements of the body, arms and legs, elastic portions 7 and 8 are provided in the shoulder and thigh straps, respectively. Also adjusting means are provided for the shoulder straps and for the thigh straps G. The adjusting means for the shoulder straps are shown as including wire loops 9 carried at the ends of the rear extensions or shoulder strap portions and through which the elastics 7 freely pass, button-hole tabs 10 being secured to the free ends of the elastics 7 and having button-holes engageable with buttons 11 carried by the front shoulder strap portions or front extensions.

The adjusting means provided for the shoulder straps 5 would be objectionable, if applied tothe thigh straps 8, both by reason of the resulting double thickness of material and because of the metal loops. The adjusting means shown for the thigh straps include button-hole tabs 12 carried by free ends of the elastics 8 and passing through transverse slits in the ends of the front portions of the thigh straps 6 and engaging but- .tons 13 thereon.

In gymnasium work even the buttons 13 would sometimes be objectionable because of interference with the apparatus, and in this case the slightly modified construction shown at Fig. 1 is employed in which the elastic 8 is stitched directly at its ends to the front and rear extensions of the thigh strap 6.

The garment is intended to be made up and marketed in various sizes, similarly in this respect to corsets, but for the lesser variations in sizes and proportions of different figures, separate and independent adjusting means are provided for the bust, waist and hips, so that a perfect fit may be secured.

The means for obtaining the waist adjustment include a relatively broad strengthening girdle or waist-band 14. The girdle or waist-band 14 may be composed of the same soft, pliable material as the waist body 1 and is shown as firmly secured to the outside of the body 1 by stitching through and through in lines running longitudinally of the waist band, as indicated by dotted lines in the drawings. The waist-band 14 is somewhat shorter than the waist measure of the garment body 1 and terminates in free end portions forming flaps or flies 15 provided with round-worked holes, as shown, forming eyelets for a waist-adjusting lace 16, as shown in Fig. 3. The extremely flexible character of the material of the waist body 1 readily permits the waist adjustment to take place.

For securing the desired bust adjustment, there are oppositely arranged spaced flies or flaps 17 for each breast portion of the garment, these flaps being stitched upon the outside of the Waist body 1 and extending in flaring or V-shaped relation from a suitable distance above the waist-band 1 1 upwardly to the upper edge of the garment between the shoulder straps 5 and the front opening or front edges of the garment. Round-worked holes in the flaps 17 serve as eyelets for laces 18 which constitute adjusting means uniting the opposed flaps 17 to effect bust adjustment of the garment. The waist body 1 remains smooth and unbroken beneath the flaps 17 and laces 18, clearly appears in Fig. 2, the softness of the material readily permitting the bust adjustment.

The 'means shown for effecting the hip adjustment of the garment resemble those for effecting the bust adjustment. Flies or flaps 19 stitched to the outside of the waist body 1 over the hips, extend in opposed spaced flaring relation downward from the lower edge of the waist-band 1 1 to the lower edge of the garment, the waist body 1 remaining uniformly continuous and unbroken at the inside, as shown in Fig. 2. Hip adjustment is effected by laces 20 passing through round-worked holes in the flaps 19 and uniting these opposed flaps, the soft material of the waist body 1 in no wise interfering with this adjustment. The hip adjusting means also cooperate with the adjusting means for the thigh straps 6 and may to a considerable extent take the place thereof in casethe latter is omitted, as shown in Fig. 4.

The upper and lower edges of the gar-" ment, including the edges of the shoulder and thigh straps, are provided with a binding 21, such binding being shown as .passing over and including the adjacent ends of the bust flaps 17 and of the hip flaps 19, thereby securing neatness and smoothness of construction.

The garment illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 and that illustrated in Fig. 3 embody throughout the same features of construction, but are of different proportions, the garment of Fig. 3 being designed for a more slender figure than that of Figs. 1 and 2. Among other changes in FIJI'OPOYtlOIlS, in the garment shown in Fig. 3 as compared with that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the waist-band 14 is relatively wider and .the bust-adjusting flaps 17 and hip-adjusting flaps 19 are relatively longer. In addition to the variations in proportions of the garments asmanufactured, the provision of the separate and independent adjusting means throughout the garment, as hereinbefore described, enables each garment to snugly fit the body of the wearer and to properly perform its supporting and shaping functions, while the entire absence of stays allows of the necessary freedom of movement of the body and limbs of the wearer; and these desirable results have been found to take place in the use of the body-supporting undergarment of this invention.

It is obvious that various modifications may be made in the constructions shown and above particularly described within the principles and scope of our invention.

We claim 1. A body-supporting undergarment comprising a continuous waist body opening down the front only and composed throughout of soft and pliable material, oppositely arranged spaced flaps for each breast at the outside of the continuous waist body, adj ust ing means uniting the opposed flaps to ef fect bust adjustment of the garment, similar opposed spaced flaps for each hip at the outside of the continuous waist body, adjusting means uniting the opposed hip flaps for effecting hip adjustment of the garment, a waist-band carried by the outside of the continuous waist body, such waist-band terminating in front opposed flaps spaced apart, and adjusting means uniting the end flaps of the waist-band to thereby effect waist adjustment of the garment.

2. A body-supporting undergarment comprising a continuous waist body opening down the front only and composed throughout of soft and pliable material and having shoulder straps and thigh straps, oppositely arranged spaced flaps for each breast at the outside of the continuous Waist body, ad justing means uniting the opposed flaps to effect bust adjustment of the garment, similar opposed spaced flaps for each hip at the outside of the continuous waist body, adjusting means uniting the opposed hip flaps for effecting hip adjustment of the garment, a waist-band carried by the outside of the continuous waist body, such waistband terminating in front opposed flaps spaced apart, and adjusting means uniting the end flaps of the waist-band to thereby effect waist adjustment.

In testimony whereof we have aflixed our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY G. ALBERS. MARY L. ALBERS.

Witnesses:

VM. ASHLEY KELLY, VICTOR D. BORST.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. C. 

